Grey
by Carebear Stare
Summary: I have a question to ask you.


**A/N: Okay,I was just wondering, if I wanted to set up a challenge, not like a big one, just like a personal one or something, what would I have to do? Because I've got this really great line and I want someone to write a story for it, because I really can't. So, I was thinking, maybe people who are interested could e-mail me? Just head the topic challenge and I'll send out the line to you. There could be a prize, but I don't know what yet. And does everyone just post as a response to the challenge, or do I actually have to pick a winner and give them something like previews of all my work as a prize? So, if anyone knows, please drop me a line. Enjoy the story and please review!**

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**I have a question to ask you.**

"_We were unbreakable"_

Like those magic rings. You know, how there's three, and you can snap one off, but the other two stay attached? That's what it was like.

They were forever linked by being each others first love.

"_First and only" some people remarked._

They had other relationships, after obviously. Well…she did. And eventually, he did too. But they remained the two rings that stayed attached, while other people snapped on and off, dispersing quickly, like magicians smoke. They weren't real, tricks of the light and fast hands. Amazing and convincing from your seat, but when you took a closer look, there wasn't anything real there. You could try and keep believing, like children desperately trying to hold onto the magic of Santa Claus and we try and hold onto the ideals of Good, Evil and what we must strive to be. The latter, of course, is something that never occurs to some, but those who do try to hold on sometimes succeed. But a relationship which glitters with the magic of the former is simply that.

Glitters.

"_All these glitters are not gold"_

In the struggle to definition, there can be grey areas. Do you, for instance, save both your parents, or one sibling? While it would be better to save two people, these said people have lived an entire life with their ages combined, perhaps more, while the single life is just starting out in life. An equal amount of Good would come of saving either party, but does that balance out the Evil that comes from the act of choosing? Is it not the choice itself worse than any Good that will come of saving anyone? Wouldn't it be better to offer yourself in their place? But then, how could you save them knowing they would have to live with the guilt of your death for the rest of their lives, effectively ruining them? Wouldn't it be better just to save yourself? But, despite the grey area, that decision falls decidedly on the side of Evil. So you could do anything but that, but all paths led back to Sadness and Pain, Evil's sycophantic courtiers.

"_Some are lucky, some are not,"_

They were not lucky. Their lives were not their own. They had a purpose, a destiny, which dictated that they must protect and save and fight and be Good. But the decisions they made did not immediately become Good. Thought had to be put into each and every choice. But sometimes the decisions fell into the grey area. The grey area was the hardest of all decisions. You are indeed lucky if you never have to face one. He had had to make one such decision. Well, he had had to make many, but this is the one which concerns us. Grey is the colour of change, did you know that? There were so many reasons. The risk, of course. He knew it wouldn't have to be _it _for perfect happiness to rear its ugly head. Being with her. Knowing that they could love and live in that moment without thinking about what was to some. To find comfort in her arms. The only thing that stopped him losing his soul in these moments was the clouding worry that he would.

Her safety. As Good and good and strong as they were fighting together, they were not unstoppable. They could've been, if not for the risks they took to make sure the other was safe. In beings that are pre-disposed to be Good, Love and Happiness magnifies their Goodness. When they saw one another there feelings were evoked, and their Good nature which sought to protect and save was focused. If one was in danger, all else was forgotten. An impending attack, the fires of Hell, All. Their Love, some said, made the World hold its breath.

And there were other reasons. You only had to look into the future to see them. A Vampire with a Soul and a Slayer. In the time that was borrowed, with each other in their hands, they were the only ones. She resolutely looked the other way. Occasionally he would look, but what he saw terrified him, so he pretended and believed that Fate and Destiny spoke in a tongue he could not understand. The definitions changed from Good or Evil to encompass each other.

"'…_When I look into the future, all I see is you. All I want is you'_

'_I know the feeling'"_

_Love is Blind_

Her well-being dictated his judgment. Which brought him into the greylands. What sort of future could she have with him? How could she ever have the normal life she craved? He was holding her back, she was compromising for him. She should never have to compromise. It had become very clear. For her to live a full life there could be no "them".

Which in itself was a contradiction. Well, not so much a contradiction as an ironic tragedy, which leant more towards the side of "I think the grief just stopped my heart" tragedy. That was how she saw it. She'd been Chosen and her life was taken away. Then, they gave her him. She'd saved him, so his life was hers. And he had her life. So, really, he was her life? Yes, exactly. So, then, they'd been given each other? Yes, they were guided to each other by a Greater Power and their Love was Fate. But, then for that to be taken away…that's just cruel. Yes, it is.

His heart was outraged. Leave her? Leave _her_! LEAVE _HER_? It spluttered and screamed and slammed against his rib cage. His decision tore his heart out. This _hurt. _It would _hurt _her. It would make her Sad and Hurt, and were they not part of Evil? So then, wouldn't leaving her be Evil?

"_Isn't breaking a young girl's heart evil?"_

With me gone, he assured himself, she will be better off. This was bolstered by her mother's convictions that he must leave her. But she protested. And he told a Lie that would shape their paths. Paths which, it seemed inevitably, came back to each other to bring more Sadness and Pain, and Love. This Lie, was not of Evil. Though the path to Hell is paved with good intention, a Lie spoken with Good intentions is what can sometimes be called a White Lie. The Lie broke her, and so they became who they are today.

"_Two Roads diverge in a wood,"_

Some say, True Love does not exist, just as there is no such thing as magic. See, they say, holding up the trick ring and revealing the gap, No such thing. But when they try to pull the two apart, they are unable. Their faces shine with effort, sleeves rolled up, eyes aching and tailcoats forgotten.

They are unbreakable.

**So I ask you this. Define Love for me, and then tell me, do the roads merge again?**


End file.
